Brassiere



F. A. COHEN April 15, 1952 BRASSIERE Filed Jan. 31, 1948 IN V EN TOR. FRANK (CHEN Patented Apr. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,592,792 BRASSIERE Frank A. Cohen, Brooklyn, N. Y.

" Application January 31, 1948, Serial No. 5,557

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to garments for molding and supporting the breasts, and which will, for convenience, hereinafter be referred to as brassieres, regardless of whether they com- 'prise an undergarment such as an ordinary brassiere or an outer garment such as a dress, bathing suit, or halter.

It is an object of my invention to provide a brassiere having improved means for supporting and molding the breasts.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a brassiere which will make the breasts more markedly protuberant and will cause a fleshy breast to seem less heavy.

It is another object of my invention to provide a brassiere having novel auxiliary means which assist the bust cups in molding, supporting and separating the breasts.

It is an additional object of my inventionto provide a brassiere which, despite its abovementioned advantages comprises relatively few and simple extra parts.

It is still another object of my invention to provide a brassiere which will function efficiently even after repeated launderings.

Other objects of my invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the brassieres hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention;

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the torso of a lay figure wearing a brassiere constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an outside view of the brassiere as it appears when opened;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the brassiere, the same being taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary inside view of the brassiere in the region of one of the bust cups, the auxiliary resilient strips being shown disconnected from their associated shoulder straps and lying flat against the interior of the bust cup; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary inside viewof the bust cups of a brassiere embodying a modified form of my invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral I0- denotes a brassiere embodying the present invention and comprising two conventional dome-shaped bust cups l2, 14.

The lower edges of said bust cups are stitched to deep concave notches [6, I8 formed in the upper edge of a torso encircling band 29, the notches being disposed on opposite sides of the front center of the brassiere. This band may be made in one piece or, as shown, of a plurality of panels stitched to one another end to end.

The free rear ends of the band are" provided with suitable means such as hooks and eyes 22, 24 for detachable securement to one another. A circumferentially elastic insert 26 may be inserted in the rear portion of .the band to enable the same better tofit a wearer and to allow the brassiere to expand with breathing.

Shoulder straps 28 have their back ends suitably connected, as by stitching, to the upper edge of the rear portion of the band. The front ends of the shoulder straps are conventionally attached to the apices of the upper edges of the bust cups. Preferably, as is customary in the art, this attachment is effected by adjustable buckles 32. These buckles include a series of cross bars 34, 36, 38 through which the front of the shoulder strap is threaded in a well known manner (see Fig. 3). The buckles also include lower bars 40 over which tapes 42 are threaded. These tapes have their opposite ends slightly spread apart and attached, as by stitching, to the apices of the top edges of the bust cups.

The brassiere as thus far described is entirely conventional, and it will be appreciated as this description proceeds that many standard variations may be incorporated without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example, the two bust cups, instead of being separated by a central portion 44 of the panel 20 can be joined edge to edge. Moreover, said panel may be attached only to the outer edges of the bust cups and not extend beneath the bust cups if the brassiere is to be of the bandeaux type.

Pursuant to the present invention, each bust cup includes two elongated fabric strips 45, 43 which are longitudinally resilient, i. e. resilient in the direction of the double headed arrows 50. The lower end of each strip is secured, as by stitching, to the lower edge of its associated bust cup, preferably at the point where this edge of the bust cup is attached to the mating notch in the upper edge of the band 20. The strips are otherwise free of the bust cup. Each strip is disposed on a different side of the center of the lower edge of the bust cup as is clearly indicated in Figs.

2 and 4.

Said strips have their longitudinal axes so disposed that the strips converge toward one another, extending in such direction that the point of convergence is in the vicinity of the apex of the top edge of the bust cup. However, the strips are not long enough to reach this apex, the length of the strips being such that they extend a little more than half way up the bust cup. The strips are relatively broad at their lower ends, and the longitudinal edges thereof converge upwardly so that the strips are narrower adjacent the top than adjacent the bottom thereof, this construction being employed so that the strips afford a greater area of support and constraint near the bottom of a breast than near the center thereof.

The upper end of each strip 46, 48 issecured, as by stitching, to a different end of a tape 52 which in the preferred form of my invention is longitudinally non-resilient. Said tape is folded back adjacent its center and the folded portion is supported by any available bar of the buckle, as for example, the same bar 40 as that over which the tape 42 passes. However, I prefer to support the tape 52 on a. separate bar so that it may be free to slide over the bar without the restraint that would be imposedby an'overlying or underlying tapesuch'as the tape '52. To this end, I provide each buckle 32 with an additional lower bar 54 over which'the tape 52 is threaded. In order that the tape'52maybe removable from the buckle, one end of'the'bar may be free so that, in eifect, the buckle acts as a hook over which the tape can be slipped with ease.

The overall length of the strips 65, Hand tape 52 from the basesof one strip, along'the length of said strip, along the tape and along the other strip to its base, is less than the overlying distance along-the bust cup and shoulder strap when the brassiere is not being worn. This condition is best seen in Fig. 3. It also will be apparent from Fig. 4, in which the strips and tape are pressed against the inside surface of the bust cup. the tape being detached from the bar 54. The purpose of this difierence inlengths is to insure that the resilient strips 45, 48 will engage the breasts and yield somewhat before the breasts contact the inside surface of the bust cup, thus making certain that the strips will exert a compressing and molding force on the breasts'independent of that exercised by the bust cups. This force applied by the'strips is applied at the underside of the breast on both sides of the center and presses the flesh of the breast toward the rib cage and toward the center of the breast. Asa result the breasts will be more protuberant, the separation between the breasts will be increased, and the breasts will appear smaller at their bases, all of these results being in accord with stylish demands.

It will be appreciated that, if a breast is not symmetrical, one of the strips may yield some what more than the 'other and-thus tend to cor rect the asymmetry. At the same time, the folded portion of the tape riding on. the bar 54 will shift slightly to permit the dilierent degrees of stretching of the two strips.

In order to enable the resilient strips to apply a. variable molding efiect the tapes 52 may include a buckle 56 which enables the lengths of said tapes to be varied.

In Fig. I have shown a brassiere 60 embodying a modified form of my invention and dinering from the brassiere in in that its elongated longitudinally resilient strips 52 are attached to the. top edge of the bust cup instead of to a tape.

Said strips 62 are shorter in length than the overlying portions of the bust cup and act in substantially the same manner as the strips 50 hereinabove described.

The use of the underlength longitudinally resilient strips hereinabove described is particularly helpful in enabling the brassiere to function efiiciently after repeated launderings. Ordinarily, domed bust cups change their configurations upon washing, due to shrinkage and/or elongation of the fabric threads, and this measureably affects their ability to properly mold the bust. However, a similar change in the dimensions of the resilient strips, due to laundering, has hardly any effect whatsoever on the shaping of the breasts thereby, so that said strips correctly control the breasts even,.after the bust cups become somewhat misshapen after long use.

It thus will be seen that I have provided brassieres which achieve the several objects of my invention and are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical-use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A brassiere comprising a torso encircling band including a pair of bust cups, shoulder straps connected to the top edges of the bust cups and to the rearof the brassiere, a pair of elongatedstrips associated with each bust cup,

each pair of strips being located at the rear of its associated bust cup, the bottom ends of said strips being spaced from one another and secured to the brassiere along the bottom edge of the bust cup, said strips being disposed on opposite sides of the centers of the bottom edges of the bust cups and beingjlongitudinally resilient, said strips converging upwardly toward one another, the longitudinal edges of said resilient strips tapering from the bottoms to the tops thereof, a tape having its opposite ends attached to the top ends of said resilient strips, said tape having a fold intermediate its ends andbeing fastened at the fold to the shoulder strapnear the point of connection of the shoulder strap to the bust cup, the distance along said resilient strips and tape when the strips are unstressed being less than the overlying distance along the bust cup and shoulder strap.

2. A brassiere comprising a torso encircling band including a pair of bust cups, shoulder straps connected to the top edges of the bust cups and to the rear of the brassiere, each of said bust cups having associated therewith a pair of elongated strips, the pair of strips for each bust cup being located entirely in back of its associated cup, the

the associated bust cup, and means to connect the upper ends-ofeach-pair of strips to the upper edge of the associated bust cup, the distance along each strip when unstressed being less than an overlying distance along the associated bust cup.

3. A brassiere as set forth in claim 2 wherein the upper ends of each pair of strips is directly connected to the upper edge of the associated bust cup.

4. A brassiere as set forth in claim2 wherein the means connecting the upper ends of each pair of strips to the upper edge of the associated bust cup comprises a tape whose opposite ends are attached to the upper ends of said strips, said tape having a fold intermediate its ends and being attached at the fold to the shoulder strap for the associated bust cup.

5. A brassiere as set forth in claim 2' wherein the means connecting the upper ends of each pair of strips to the upper edge of the associated bust cup comprises a tape whose opposite ends are attached to the upper ends of said strips, said tape having a fold intermediate its ends and being slidably attached at the fold to the shoulder strap for the associated bust cup.

6. A brassiere as set forth in claim 2 wherein the upper ends of each pair of strips are slightly above the center of the bust cup.

7. A brassiere as set forth in claim 2 wherein the means connecting the upper ends of each pair of strips to the upper edge of the associated bus't cup comprises a tape whose opposite ends are attached to the upper ends of said strips, said tape having a fold intermediate its ends and being attached at the fold to the shoulder strap for the associated bust cup, and means to adjustably vary the length of said tape.

FRANK A. COHEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

